Enter your weight and active climbing time to calculate your calories burned rock climbing. A 155 lb climber burns about 298 Calories in 30 minutes of moderate top-rope climbing.

Rock Climbing Calories Burned Calculator

Pick your climbing style, then enter your weight and time.

Bouldering
Top-rope
Outdoor / Lead

Rock Climbing Calories Burned Formula

Basic mode uses body weight, active climbing time, and a climbing factor based on style.

Calories = Weight_{lb} \times ActiveMinutes \times StyleFactor

Advanced mode converts vertical feet into climbing time and can add the rest of the session.

ActiveMinutes = \frac{Vertical_{ft}}{ClimbingSpeed_{ft/min}}
Vertical_{ft} = Routes \times WallHeight_{ft}
Calories = (Weight_{lb} \times ActiveMinutes \times StyleFactor) + (Weight_{lb} \times RestMinutes \times 0.009)

Style factors used in the calculator

Climbing style Style factor Climbing speed used in advanced mode Best fit
Top-rope / moderate 0.064 20 ft/min Steady rope sessions and normal gym laps
Lead / moderate-hard 0.075 18 ft/min Longer rope efforts with clipping and less rest on route
Bouldering / powerful 0.070 12 ft/min Short hard attempts and powerful moves
Steep / very intense 0.083 14 ft/min Overhangs, circuits, hard intervals, and pumpy sessions

Calories burned in 30 minutes

Body weight Top-rope / moderate Lead / moderate-hard Bouldering / powerful Steep / very intense
125 lb 240 281 263 311
155 lb 298 349 326 386
185 lb 355 416 389 461

How to use the calculator

  • Use Basic mode when you know how many minutes you spent actively climbing.
  • Use Advanced mode when you track total vertical feet during rope sessions.
  • To get vertical feet, multiply the number of routes by the wall height or average pitch length.
  • Choose the style that matches the hardest part of the session if your workout mixed several types of climbing.

Examples

Example 1: basic mode
A 150 lb climber spends 40 minutes lead climbing.

Calories = 150 \times 40 \times 0.075 = 450

Total calories burned: 450

Example 2: advanced mode
A 170 lb climber completes 600 vertical feet in a top-rope session and spends 75 minutes at the gym.

ActiveMinutes = \frac{600}{20} = 30
ClimbingCalories = 170 \times 30 \times 0.064 = 326.4
RestMinutes = 75 - 30 = 45
RestCalories = 170 \times 45 \times 0.009 = 68.85
TotalCalories = 326.4 + 68.85 = 395.25

Total calories burned: 395.25